Miss Amorette D'Autrey
by kristaelizabeth
Summary: The shy Amorette D'Autrey joins the league. Next to join is Dr. Jekyll, whom Amorette soon develops a crush on. Can her love remain stable with a lustful Mr. Skinner and the other catastrophes at hand? Rated T to be safe. Pairings: OCxJekyll, OCxSkinner
1. Capture

_Running. _I hate running. Who am I running from? Even I am uncertain. But I know they are trying to capture me, and honestly, they probably will. I am scrawny, if you will, and I was in my pique of athleticism around two years ago. Now I am nineteen and still only five foot six inches. I know why they want to capture me. I can… move things. Not with my hands; with my mind and my mind only. I have to have eye contact with it, specifically my left eye. It was a piercing marble-blue that had a hazy look over it. My other eye was hazel.

My hair is white-blonde. I keep it in a loose ponytail on my back, held with a loose blue ribbon. I wear a white dress to my knees with another blue ribbon around the waist. My shoes are simple blue loafers.

I list the things I can tell about my captors: One was young; one was old and appeared disgruntled. Both had guns. Both were fast. And both knew that with the lonesome night streets of Cardiff, Wales, they had the advantage. I wouldn't be saved nor heard. The word "rape" slithered its nasty way into my mind and urged me to go faster although my stomach wrenched nauseously. I ran as hard as I could. And suddenly, I run into something, yet nothing stands before me. I am yanked off my feet painlessly.

"Miss! Miss Amorette D'Autrey!" The younger captor calls (sounding very American), finally catching up and placing a brotherly hand on my shoulder. I look up and nod. "I'm Special Agent Tom Sawyer," He announced proudly, "I'm from the American secret service."

"We are giving you an invitation… to, if anything, save the world from peril. An Armageddon," The older one tells me wisely. "We invite you to the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I am Allan Quatermain." _Peril. _I think. _An Armageddon. _"The British Empire is allowing you to live in their country in peace, under security, safe from the power-seekers. But we need you to join first," Mr. Quatermain offers seriously.

"Rodney Skinner, Gentleman Thief," A voice from nowhere says, and I look up in front of me to see hovering makeup and a jacket that seemed to appear from thin air. The face with makeup has shaded glasses on. "Whaddaya say, love?"

I smile lightly. "I'll give it… a try. But I ask you one favor, and that is to allow me to fetch my violin before I go with you." My voice carries lightly and it's rather wispy. I am quiet and cowardly, and joining a league that sounds very much like a crime-fighting league may not be the path I should take. I do not do well under pressure and this could turn out to be catastrophic.

Sawyer smiles charmingly and says, "Sure thing, Miss. Do you want us to come with you?" He hold the rifle protectively, with the butt of the gun in his right hand and the barrel in his left, twisting it in his hands so the barrel is facing skyward. Mr. Quatermain holds his gun with one hand on the barrel. In his other he holds his hat.

"Given that you want to. I won't make you," I reply politely, twirling the ribbon in my hair around my finger. I began to walk toward my meek home, and hear three sets of footsteps behind me, so I assume they had decided to follow. As we are walking, I ask to the three, "So, who exactly is the enemy here? Is it a country, or perhaps a group of people, or even a small militia? Where is this antagonist from, and what is his goal?"

"You've got many questions, and all will be answered in-depth once we return," Mr. Quatermain tells me calmly, and I listen to the man trustfully. "What I can tell you now, however, is that this is going to be no tea party. We must fight and this is, at best, serious. You must be too." We enter my humble little home and I run off to my room and swiftly grab my most prized possession, my violin. Sooner than one would expect, we are heading toward the headquarters of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

"One question I must know… Am I the last member?" As I say this, I think apprehensively, _I shouldn't be afraid of danger anyway. Maybe joining this league isn't such a bad idea._

"Second to last. One more member and the league is set," Mr. Quatermain pauses for an effect, "He's in Paris. We expect to have captured him by tomorrow night."

"Captured? Is he an animal? Or a vigilante perhaps?" I ask, furrowing my brow in thought. I'm not sure I want to work with a person… a _thing_ that had to be captured to join.

Mr. Quatermain chuckles. "I suppose you'll see about that, won't you?"


	2. Questions

I sit in a room with many other men (and one woman) with my hands folded politely on my lap. We all sit behind a neatly set and made dining table (although it is nailed to the ground, despite the fact that the ship hardly moves at all). I finish my meal, dab at the corners of my mouth with a cloth napkin and ask politely, "Who exactly is this beast? Is he civilized? Otherwise, it would be difficult to live with him."

I scan over the table and think of each one's name as my eyes pass them: next to me is Wilhelmina Harker, the only other female and a scientist (and a vampire as I've been told), next to her sits Dorian Gray, a suave immortal (when our gazes met, almost immediately I looked away out of both fear and shyness), next to him is Captain Nemo, the ship's captain and our transportation expert. He's nice enough. Next to him sits Sawyer, next to Sawyer is Mr. Quatermain, and lastly next to me is Skinner.

"He is in Paris as of now. He fled from London." Nemo speaks simply and as if he was talking to a child. I'm not offended; he meant no harm in it. I suspected it was something that happened automatically.

"Why did he flee London?" I ask quietly. I remembered seeing something about a monster fleeing London while I was in Wales- we never met in Paris.

Quatermain speaks up. "He did such terrible things there he couldn't stand to live in the city anymore. Everyone hated his being there. Thus he fled." He, unlike Nemo, speaks to me as an adult. I know he feels I am capable and thus treats me like any other member of the League. He immediately gains my respect once more.

I think about this. He is in Paris- the city had betrayed me as a small child, perhaps eight or nine. I'm not all too supportive of going to Paris to capture a beast in what is perhaps my least favorite city, but I am only a nineteen year old, and the newest member at that.

I promptly decide to repeat my question from earlier, "Okay… So who is this enemy we are going against? Is it a country?"

Quatermain answers once more. "Not a country, but a person and his army. He goes by the name the 'Fantom'. He seeks world power, and it's our job not to let him have it. He creates weapons, and he's probably planning on attacking us with them first. After we capture our last member, we'll be headed to Venice. That's where he'll attack first."

"Who created the League? Did you all know one another beforehand?" I question inquisitively.

Quatermain answers this one again. "A man who calls himself 'M' set us up to this. It's his goal to save the world from this incredible war. He seeks to stop the Fantom. He tells us where the attacks will be, who to recruit, and where the recruits will be. "

"How did he find me? I'm not publicized at all… I made no word when I went to Wales. Isn't it slightly suspicious how he could find us with no publication?" I ask.

"That's a thoughtful question, and if we cross paths with him again, you can certainly ask him, Miss, D'Autrey." Ms. Harker says.

"And this 'M' character, what's he like? I'm not sure I can trust a fellow who doesn't voyage with us and won't tell us even his full name. Are you positive that we can trust him? He seems too shadowy to listen to." I say thoughtfully.

Gray puts his head on his knuckles (elbows on the table, how rude!), and smirks at me. "So, Miss Amorette, what can _you_ do? Anything? Surely a _girl_ of your age and stature is incapable of doing much." He puts emphasis on the word "girl" for one of several reasons: to be sexist and make me feel bad, to make me feel like a child, unintentionally, or he never put any emphasis on anything and I am hearing things.

"I'd rather not explain, Mr. Gray. It's a long story which we haven't the time nor the patience to hear." I reply, refolding my hands and smiling. He scowls at me, not in the best of moods to deal with any talk-back. I imagined he was respected regularly in the League, and I was well and ready to break that respected run.

"So what's to do with this peculiar eye of yours?" Gray asks almost sneeringly as though he was attempting to insult me. For all I knew, he was trying to insult me.

"It's not hereditary, if that's what you were thinking. I had something of an accident as a young child in Paris."

"An accident?" He suddenly sounds intrigued, "Do you know what the cause of this accident was?"

I nod, "I came to find that excessive rattlesnake venom, arsenic and ink in the eye has some strange side effects."

Gray raises his eyebrows but asks nothing more. I am glad that he was finally silent… I don't want to answer any more questions from him. The entire table falls silent.

Skinner can't stand the silence and asks, "What sorta accident did you go through to get snake venom, arsenic and ink in your eye excessively?" I am perfectly fine answering to Skinner… I feel as though as I can trust him. Gray, I am not so sure.

"My parents were very… willing to experiment. I was their favorite subject, I supposed. It can still be considered an accident… The ink was not added to concoction on purpose." I tell him with a smile.

Mina questions quietly, "Would it still have worked without the ink, Miss D'Autrey?"

I look up in thought. "I'm not sure about that one, Ms. Harker. I'd rather not go and test the question on my other eye, regardless."

Sawyer and Skinner chuckle (Quatermain smiled slightly), while the rest remain without word. I give a sheepish smile while twirling the ribbon in my hair around my finger. A shiphand comes to pick up my empty plate and places more on Skinner's (I suppose he's a big eater if they know he's waiting for seconds).

"If you'll excuse me, I have to get to bed… I am indeed very tired, so goodnight all." I say, beginning to stand up.

"Night, love." Skinner says sweetly and kisses my cheek. I find this quite funny of him but think nothing of it. I stand up, smile, and turn on my heel and exit.

I'm sure I heard Quatermain say as I left, "And tomorrow we'll make Paris."

That night I didn't get a wink of sleep.


	3. Hyde

I emerge from a restless night, bathing and dressing quickly. Despite my lack of sleep, I am ready to face the day.

I leave my room after turning off the lamp that lit up and warmed the entire room. The second I leave, I bump clumsily into Skinner. The pure male force that came from him sent me to my rear end right next to him.

"Sorry, love. I expect you to knock on your door when you leave, eh?" He joked. I smiled at this.

I giggled, "I didn't quite expect you to be standing right outside my door the second I walk out, Mr. Skinner." He helps me up, "It's not every day that out of pure _chance_ someone decides to stand directly outside of your door the very moment you leave in the morning, when it just so happens you're still waking up and you're indeed very tired."

"It was a one-time experience. I, for one, am glad that I get to be part of this experience for you." Skinner says, making me laugh once more. We leave to breakfast conversing with one another the rest of the way.

Later that day, I sat on the deck playing an upbeat song with a fast tempo on my violin while Skinner talked to me. I listened solemnly and guessed he was okay with me practicing whilst he spoke. When I finished, he slipped a compliment into the one-sided conversation, but otherwise acted like I was never playing. That was perfectly fine with me.

I sit quietly in my room, putting rosin on my violin bow as I prepare to play. My violin is out next to me. I tune the violin by turning the pegs on the scroll. I set the violin out horizontally on my shoulder. I place the bow on the strings. Just as I'm about to begin playing…

**SLAM!**

I look around, startled, and come to a conclusion that Quatermain and Sawyer were back and the beast (Hyde, I soon learned his name was) had been caught. They had stressed that Mina and I would not be allowed to go, seeing as we were female and the hunt would be too intense.

"Hello, Dorian, Amorette," Skinner says as I greet the two as I walk out of the wing I am staying in to investigate the noises. "The great white hunter's bagged his prize," Skinner remarks in response to the growls and angry noises coming from the room.

There is a surprising slam and a shiphand is thrown out of the room and onto the wall.

Dorian watches this and answers, "Or the prize bagged him."

We enter the room with Mina now in tow. I nearly gasp in shock and gigantic ape-like being that is throwing the people around the room like ragdolls. He rattles the chains and screams.

"Stay back if you value your life." Quatermain warns, and I obey. I don't want to confront him, and I don't want him to sense my fear.

Skinner is knocked to the ground, and Gray helps him up. "Ow! You scratched me!"

Gray says with a smirk, "Better me than him." He calmly walks forward several steps and observes with no hint of sarcasm and no hint of truth, "Well, this is… nice."

"Mr. Hyde, you've done terrible things in England. So terrible that you fled the country. And I'm ashamed to say that Her Majesty's government is willing to offer you amnesty in return for your services." Quatermain pauses and asks Hyde, "Do you want to go home?"

"Home. Home is where the heart is, that's what they say. And I have been missing London so. Its sorrow is as sweet to me as a rare wine." This beastly thing is speaking in a shocking way: romantically and poetically. It was beautiful. He leans in to Quatermain and says, "I'm yours."

Mina makes a noise of intrigue. I was feeling quite the same but I remained silent.

"Don't be afraid." Hyde shakes his head and half-turns away from us.

Quite stupidly, Sawyer remarks, "Who says I'm afraid?"

Suddenly Hyde turned back angrily. "You do!" The chain was flung and Mina ducked and made a startled sound as it came over her. "You stink of fear!"

"Quite the parlor trick." Gray half-compliments.

"You wait 'til you see my next one." Hyde says, groans, and looks at us. There's a sudden burst and I look away for a moment, to see a grotesque scene- a half beast, half human suffering while he transforms into full human screaming and screaming.

After the transformation, a tall man stands, holding up his stretched pants and breathing heavily. "Dr. Jekyll… at your service."

Quatermain speaks. "So. The League is set."

A machine clicks and beeps and prints out a small slip of paper. "So is the date for the conference. We have three days."

"Three days." Sawyer says. "Can this canoe do that?"

"You underestimate the Nautilus. You underestimate her greatly."

They leave quietly while Jekyll is left hunching over, panting. I approached him. "…Are you alright, Doctor?"

He looks up at me, smiling lightly. "I'm fine, just a bit shaken. Thank you, Miss." He breathes heavily for a moment before standing at full height, about half a foot taller than I was.

"My name is Amorette D'Autrey."

"I recognize your name from somewhere. It seems as though the word was spread of a girl with a strange eye fleeing Paris… just as I relocated there from London… Was that you?"

I produce a humorless, dry laugh. "No doubt, Doctor. I didn't exactly flee of my own accord… They outcast me. I had nowhere to go but a neutral place… Wales was more than perfect."

"I remember. I'm sorry Paris treated you so terribly." Jekyll says sympathetically.

"It's fine, Doctor. You haven't a reason to be apologizing. It wasn't your fault."

"I still feel terrible. If we see each other at all, please, call me Henry."

"Okay, I'll see you later… Henry." I say with a smile. He smiles back and turns to one of the shiphands and begins asking about the Nautilus.

I exit the room feeling refreshed that I made a new acquaintance.


	4. Music

**A/N: Well, here it is. Chapter four. I intend to have chapter five out fairly soon if not everybody's abandoned all hope on this story… Thank you for your patience. Onward, honky! (Hehe.)**

I found myself sitting in my room once more, practicing a new piece I had written. I paused every now and then, add sharps and flats, little notes that might make the piece sound better. We still had two days before we were in Venice and I was planning on spending it locked up in my room with my violin- I had done it in Wales, I'd do it here. One note I hit made me wince.

"I'll just raise that to an F sharp…" I murmured, lifting my pen to the staff. I set the pen back down and played that measure again, but it still sounded wrong. I groaned with discontent.

A voice from my doorway made me jump. "Try making it an E flat… That should work perfectly." Suddenly Jekyll was standing behind my chair looking at my music.

I looked it over and played it in my mind and realized he was correct. "Thank you, Doct- Henry… I didn't know you were a musician as well?"

"I'm not much of a musician but as a child I had my share of lessons."

I leaned forward again and changed the note once more.

"Let's hear how it sounds now," Jekyll requested and I lifted my instrument to my shoulder, playing the short piece through again with the revised note. This time it was perfect. I finished with a flare. Smiling, I looked up at Jekyll.

"Thank you, Henry… That was wonderful," I continued, "I don't think I might have thought to put an E flat there."

As I made the finishing markings on the sheet music, Jekyll was looking around the room. He came across something dear of mine. "A rapier?" He questioned, lifting it up gently and looking at me.

I glanced up at him. "Oh, yes. It was my brother's… He taught me to fence. Her name is Lucy."

Jekyll chuckled lightly and my face turned pink. "You named her Lucy?"

"Well… I didn't name her Lucy, my brother did, and the name deserves to stick… I keep it in homage to my brother." I noted.

"Miss D'Autrey, why did your brother not keep it?" Jekyll asked quietly. I think he already knew the answer but didn't want to assume something so serious. "I won't make you tell me."

I held up a hand to tell him it was alright that he could know. "It's fine… You see, my parents didn't _really_ start experimenting until he was sixteen and I was eight… Apparently he had an allergic reaction an amoxicillin they used. He broke out in hives and they closed up his throat… He suffocated and left me Lucy." I stood up from my chair and pulled out the sheath for the thin sword.

I held it out to him. "The scabbard has _Lucy_ inscribed in it. I had it done in Paris." Jekyll took the sheath from me and ran his hands over the inscription.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Miss D'Autrey…"

I shook my head. "Everyone has their time to go, and his just came earlier than some. And you can call me Amorette, by the way. I don't mind," I added, and Henry nodded. "On a different note, I've been wondering…" I paused. "I've been wondering what's all about your alter ego, so to speak."

Jekyll gave a nervous smile. "Oh, yes, Edward… That's what his name is, Edward Hyde."

"He doesn't just carry the name of Jekyll?" I inquired. He shook his head.

"No, no. Back in London I was trying to separate the bad of man from the good, and I did that…" I was listening intently at this point, both intrigued and shocked that a person would be able to do that. "But I was to change into him and I was a reputable doctor, so of course I couldn't have the brute be known as me as well. It would ruin my reputation and more."

Nodding, I asked, "So why didn't you just give up on it and be Henry all the time?"

"The elixir was so addictive… It was like a drug," Henry explained simply, and I accepted it.

"Was it hard leaving London?"

"Being so hated, I was happy to leave at first… But being out of London for so long, I missed it more and more each day," Henry explained. "Now, I want nothing more than to go back. I had friends there. Lots of them who cared."

I gently placed my violin in its case and clamped it shut. "I," I began, resetting my posture, "think we need some fresh air. Do you mind?"

"No, no, I'll come along with you," Jekyll agreed.

"I like the ocean. It seems like it's a neverending blue silk sheet to me."

"'Ello, Jekyll, Amorette!" A Cockney accent startled us both as we gazed out into the sea.

I jumped and turned around. "Oh my, Mr. Skinner, you scared me! I didn't see you! My, I thought you were a ghost!"

"That's shocking to hear when I'm dressed."

I chuckled and ducked my head, "I shock too easily nowadays. Especially after I was literally chased down by a group of strange men of which whom I had no idea of the intentions," I accused. "Terrifying. Simply _terrifying."_

"Strange men?" Jekyll asked with intrigue.

"Ah, yes. I was wandering near my home one night when it dawned upon me I was being followed. I was captured by a ghost."

Skinner now intruded on our conversation, "But look where it got you, love."

"Oh, you mean on a boat heading to Venice where we must stop a bomb and have hundreds of peoples' lives depending on us? Sounds wonderful, Mr. Skinner!" I enthused. "It seems wonderful up until the bomb part… Shall I reword it to make it sound at least okay?" We all laughed and chatted for a bit before we parted ways. I was off to explore more of the Nautilus, curious as to where everyone was living and to what everything was.

I encountered many men working on the ship, making it better and fixing up minor faults in the more complex parts. I asked most of the working crewmates what they were working on and why until I felt that they were getting annoyed and I moved on to another part of the ship and repeated the actions.

"So what does this pipe do? How about this one? How does that interact with this one? That one's leaking, is it supposed to do that?" The questions rolled on and the shipmates' answers got shorter and more begrudging and I finally gave up when all of them just gave short grunts.

The halls were long and painted off-white. I didn't really like off-white.

Night was befalling us and the halls' only sounds were the quiet chatter of the crew quietly chatting in Hindi. I wondered what they were saying. What did you really have to talk about while walking around on a ship? _Not much gossip, I'm assuming. Oh well_.

I turned the corner to see Henry standing in a doorway sweating and fiddling with a pocket watch. I stopped myself and took a step back, hiding. _This is Harker's room, I believe…What Henry doing here?_ I heard quiet talk in Wilhelmina's room but I couldn't make anything out. I figured there was another person in the room with her. _Why's Henry just standing there?_ Henry whispered to himself and walked off. I just stood there confused until Dorian walked out, looking smug and putting something in his pocket.

"Hello there, Amorette," Gray said not so pleasantly. "Taking a stroll, are we?"

"It's… It's none of your concern, Mr. Gray," I said to him and straightened out my spine, leaving him to himself.

I walked for awhile until I came across yet another room. I peeked in and found Captain Nemo, Sawyer and Quatermain all talking to one another.

I knocked on the doorframe. "Do you mind if I come in?" I asked, "I'll be quiet, honest." I smiled and they beckoned me in. I invited myself to a seat and listened to them talk. Da Vinci's blueprints of Venice, maps, sorts of things that as a woman, I wasn't taught. I simply sat in the chair and looked nice.

"He's gonna sink the whole city," Sawyer said, and I tuned in.

Quatermain responded with, "Yes, and spark off a world war."

"I'm afraid that's not the sum of our problems." Jekyll appeared in the doorway once more. _That man and doorways, honestly…_ I thought, shaking my head. "Skinner, he's taken a vial of my formula," Jekyll accused quietly.

"Are you sure?" Quatermain asked, and immediately Henry responded.

"Who else? You've seen the way the sneaky blackguard operates."

Now I spoke. "Now, now, Henry, let's not jump to conclusions, perhaps you took it out earlier and forgot?"

Jekyll gave me a sour look and shook his head. "No. I wouldn't have taken it out in the first place. Even if I had, I wouldn't have forgotten. When I take one out, it serves its purpose."

"Maybe it wasn't Skinner? Maybe it was a hand on deck-"

"My men are far more reputable than that."

I shook my head and retreated. "I won't say it is Skinner, but I won't doubt it."


End file.
